Small Town Moon
by Mya Latti
Summary: It was times like these that Nate wished that he wasn't from most isolated city in the region. He just wanted to be home — BW2 credits


_So, this will probably only make sense to those who have finished BW2. It's based on those awesome credits where there's all the scenes of Nate visiting the Gym Leaders again, and then at the end when he gets home. I thought that was just adorable and a really nice ending to a fun game! Now I'm so pumped for X and Y, the ad keeps playing at work and it looks so cool.  
Anyway, I hope it's interesting enough writing and yeah, enjoy plz. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon._

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**Small Town Moon.**

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Humilau City had been mostly fun. Mostly being the operative word. He'd never had the chance to explore it the first time he'd gone there because of the whole Team Plasma incident, so being back on his own terms had been nice. He'd spent most of his time under all the jetties just wading through the water with his pokemon, the sand was warm and the town was quiet, it had been pleasant enough. At one point though, he had decided to go swimming properly and in theory, it hadn't been a bad idea. But not being from a coastal town, Nate didn't know too much about the tide and other ocean dangers, and unfortunately had jumped in the water towards the end of the day. Marlon had had to rescue him fifty or so metres out and he'd sheepishly trudged off to the Pokemon Centre, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to show his face in Humilau for quite some time.

Opelucid was a different story. He probably hadn't had to detour that whole way, but he felt kind of obliged to help clean up the place. While he _had_ been trying to stop Team Plasma, he'd still been around when they had frozen the city so it was only fair that he came back. What sort of Champion would just leave and do nothing anyway? Not a very good one, that was what. Drayden seemed to appreciate the help though, he had told him he'd been completely up to his neck in complaints since it had happened.

He had soon learnt why - as well as their city being one massive ice-rink, it had completely stuffed up the city's power and the place had been in a blackout for quite a while. Things were only starting to get back on track when he'd arrived, so he had just helped with getting rid of the excess water (and there was a lot of it) and tidying up the debris. It had taken longer than expected, but after multiple falls (because ice was damn slippery) and bruises, they'd managed to finish it.

Unlike Drayden, Skyla had run into him. Literally. He'd been walking through Mistralton looking for something to eat when they full on collided. His head had been sore for days afterwards.

On his way down the region, he'd met up with Hugh in Driftveil. After a huge _'oh my God, you're the Champion now!'_ his friend had brought him up to that house on the hill. You know, the one where they'd met those ex-Team Plasma guys. News of his arrival hadn't taken long to get around the city, and within a few minutes of them chatting to the occupants of the house, Clay had met them up there too. He hadn't been very happy with them still residing in his city, but they'd promised him they seriously weren't trying to take over the world or anything.

It had been a really weird experience, Nate would give you that. He hadn't been one-hundred percent sure about those guys either, but Hugh assured him that they genuinely were not causing any harm. So he'd shoved his doubts aside and trusted his friend, he was the Team Plasma expert after all. Or non-expert, because calling someone who hated them an expert didn't seem quite right.

His next port of call had been Nimbasa, and originally he was just intending to stay there overnight if he couldn't get to Castelia in time, he didn't want to linger longer than needed. He had actually gotten there earlier than expected though and had been all set to just wander through the city. But it seemed Nate hadn't been having much luck that day because as he had been about to leave, that girl he'd partnered with on the Battle Subway had found him. But let's just hold up there for a minute, he had a thing or two he wanted to say about that.

Trains.

Battling on trains.

...

_Really?_

Like, who had thought that was a good idea? Had they just decided one day _'let's build some underground tracks where we can run trains for people to battle their pokemon! Because you know, everyone can totally stand up on a train while it's moving without almost stacking it'? _If they had, that was ridiculous. He'd been a prime example of what a bad idea it was too, the first time he'd rode them he had hung onto a chair for dear life to stop himself from landing on the floor as soon as the train had started.

Anyway, she had dragged him through the amusement park and into Elesa's gym where apparently she was putting on a fashion show (it was entirely against his will, honestly!). He'd asked Rosa why she couldn't just go alone, but apparently that was social suicide or something.

So he had been sitting there, minding his own business and completely bored out of his mind when all of a sudden a bright light had been shining down on him. He'd looked around frantically to try and figure out what was happening and had seen Elesa standing on the edge of the catwalk, smiling at him. It had absolutely mortified him when everyone in the audience turned to look so just he waved at them, trying to hide the fact he was blushing like mad. It had only gotten worse too, she had blown him a kiss and all the girls had _ooh'd _and _ahh'd. _Rosa had just punched him in the arm and laughed.

He had likened leaving Nimbasa to a breath of fresh air, he'd been _very_ happy to get out of there after that embarrassment. But that fresh air had soon turned into lots of smog and congestion as he'd entered Castelia, there was just so much traffic. Still, it was a really fun city and he hadn't even cared when Burgh had thrown him a parade. It was a bit much, he'd admit that, with dancers and clowns and streamers, all while seated in a _very _pink car. But it was cool because he'd never had a parade in his honour before.

Virbank City had been the best though. Having had to take the boat there, Nate had caught up with Roxie's dad. There was some awkward small-talk about the former having a few successful films with the Pokestar Studios, but after that things had eased up and he offered him a ticket to see his daughter perform live. He'd taken it and that evening had rocked up to the gig. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it was way more crowded that what he had anticipated.

People were jumping up and down, singing along loudly and cheering whenever she'd said something. And although he hadn't known any of the songs, he found himself dancing too. After a while of jumping, he had spotted Roxie's dad in the audience standing close to the stage. He'd thought about speaking to him, but the music was so loud that it probably wouldn't have been much use. He seemed proud of his daughter and it had made him think of his own mum and that had made him kind of sad. He'd missed her a lot during his travels.

By the time he had gotten to Floccesy Town, he'd just wanted to be home. It wasn't that far from Aspertia and he hadn't been planning to stay there, like at all. But of course, someone had to throw a spanner in the works. Or rather, three people had to. And they were Bianca, Cheren and Alder. They'd called him over to the latter's place for a battle and who was he to say no? He hadn't been into it though; his mind was in Aspertia at that point. So he hadn't hung around there for long and (as much as he liked those guys) as soon as he could, had taken off.

And now he was home. Well, almost.

He took each step slowly, carefully as he surveyed his city, not wanting to miss even the smallest thing. Mixed feelings were being experienced at the moment, he was happy to be back, but it wasn't quite what he was expecting. The place was so familiar, but at the same time it felt really different to what he remembered. Had it always been this small? The streets so narrow? There weren't many people either, which was funny because he recalled it being much more crowded before he left.

What he did like though was that the sense of urgency to be home he'd felt the past few days had disappeared. Replacing it was the need to be still, after that whole journey all he needed was a bit of a breather. So that's exactly what he took, he stood in the middle of the pathway - getting in the way of a few people, but whatever - and stared up at the sky. Inhaling deeply, he smiled. Right now was the only time in the past (more than a) few months that he'd had to do absolutely nothing. There was no evil gang to take down, no gyms to challenge, all the time in the world belonged to Nate and he could do what _he _wanted because becoming a trainer had been sprung on him in the first place, after all

He stood there for a good five minutes until someone asked if he was alright. Nodding, he started moving again, turning down this street and then that one. And then _that _one. His street.

In his mind he envisioned it to be really epic and cool, like a hero returning home after a long journey or something. But it wasn't like that; it was more of a full-on, go for the gold sprint. Why? Because he'd just seen her down the end of it. Her being his mum, of course.

She noticed him too, and as he ran, she called his name with a huge grin. He didn't slow down at all, not caring so much about seeing everything now and only came to a stop so he didn't crash into her. They looked at one another for a moment, and then she hugged him. It was at that moment Nate really knew he was home - which was both a fantastic and terrible thing - and hugged her back. Terrible because he hadn't realised quite how much he'd missed it, and now that he was here, it was worse than ever. You know how that just happens? Everything just catches up to you unexpectedly and it can be pretty hard to deal with.

"Let's go inside," She said when she let go and motioned to the door. He followed her, but not before he stopped to look through his bedroom window. Despite the city looking different and nothing quite feeling the same, it was a small comfort that _that _hadn't changed, it was exactly how he'd left it.

He slept for three days after that. He hadn't been in a comfortable bed since he'd left, and even if he had, travelling was still exhausting. So was the prospect of having to answer that specific question he'd inevitably face when he got up. The question he'd been asked so many times on his journey, the one he'd been struggling with as he realised he was actually winning against the League and the one he didn't particularly like, the '_what are you going to do now_?' question. But he'd deal with that when the time came, for now all was well.

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___and in the gardens I get lost,  
that is unless I'm getting found._

_I seriously contemplated ending this with "But he'd deal with that when the time came, because after all, you only live once,"_


End file.
